GC receives final approval for Bachelor's in Nursing
Grayson College has recently been approved to offer a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing by the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The final step in this
approval process has just been completed when the college was approved by SACSCOC as a
Level II institution. With this approval, the college is set to begin offering a portion of the
courses for the program in the fall of 2019.
“This is a historic milestone for our college as we offer our first Bachelor’s Degree,” GC
President Dr. Jeremy McMillen said. “It speaks to the quality of the nursing program as we
complete our 50th year. Our region has asked us to do this, and it's been a muli-year effort with
many contributing to the ultimate arrival at this point today. I'm particularly proud of the GC
team and area partnerships and their confidence in us to execute a quality program.”
Prior to this approval, the College received approval from the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board, Texas Board of Nursing, and Accreditation Commission on Education in
Nursing. Approval from each of these entities began in 2017 following the passage of Senate Bill
2118 which authorized select community colleges to offer a limited number of baccalaureate
degrees. At this time, the Bachelor’s degree in Nursing will be the only bachelor’s degree
offered at GC.
“As the North Texas region continues to grow, the need in all healthcare fields will continue to
grow as well,” GC Dean of Health Science Joanna Barnes said. “This program will allow nurses
in the Texoma region easier access to the education they are requesting, provided by a local, well
established School of Nursing that has been providing excellence in education for 50 years, and
at a much-reduced cost than compared to that provided by Universities and private online
programs.”
Grayson County has the 31st highest spending per capita on Medicare in the State of Texas, and
81st in the nation. In 2010, the Institute of Medicine formulated a goal for 80% of Registered
Nurses to have a BSN by the year 2020. Currently 31% of RN’s in Grayson County and 32% in
Fannin County have a Bachelor’s degree. Not including turnover and excluding any growth in
the community, to get to 80% in our community we would need 1,000 BSN’s almost
immediately.
This degree will be offered as an RN to BSN program, meaning that the candidate must first
have completed an initial licensure program and be licensed as a Registered Nurse. The college
will combine coursework from the student’s initial licensure program with upper division level
nursing courses to be offered through GC to award a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing. All courses
will be offered in an eight week, hybrid format.
“This means that the majority of the course content will be online, but will require the student to
be on campus for a specified number of hours each semester,” GC Director of the School of
Nursing Dr. Jamie McKinney said. “The program was developed specifically with the working
nurse in mind. The student can complete course work online around his/her work schedule and
will be able to know in advance when to schedule required on-campus hours as well.”
Because of the overwhelming number of nurses already expressing interest in the program, the
Health Science Division is planning three RN-BSN Admission and Enrollment Days in July to
provide advising and enrollment of students on a first come, first serve basis. Those with all of
their non-nursing academic classes completed will be given priority consideration for the BSN
courses.
Those who have not completed their non-nursing academic courses can receive assistance with
enrolling in those courses required to prepare the student for the RN to BSN program. Because
the courses are eight-week sessions, additional students will be accepted in October 2019 for the
second eight-week session with rolling enrollment and entry six times per year.
For additional information about this program, potential students are encouraged to email
nursing@grayson.edu.